Well, that's clearly going to be the Southern comics show to do, for the foreseeable. No big booths, no big publisher presence, but the sort of mix of creators that'll eventually make for the sort of cross-pollination we saw in the Eighties.

Good to hear it was a positive experience. The really wide mix of fans and genres was what made Anime Central in Chicago such a positive and lucrative show for me a few weeks back, and it sounds from the reports that this had a similar mix.

Honestly, I think this kind of show should be more the model of what comicons should aspire to, rather than narrow-casting. The manga/anime crowd sure seems more open for growth in multiple directions than a majority of the comic-only crowds. If nothing else, it sure seemed to be more creator-centric, rather than focusing on WWF Wrestling stars and such.

It was absolutely brilliant - wonderful impression to have made for my first comic-themed event. Despite numerous closures, I managed to make it from Ealing in good time, although this was helped by cunning queue manipulation by some lovely people I befriended on the train (friends already there, tickets at hand, didn't have to wait in the colossal fucking line).

To @Everyone who watched the webcomics talk with Duffield, Ellerby and co, If you waited around long enough to hear/see someone asking something like "For those of you who don't rely on illustration for your income...." only to be suprised by the loudness of the microphone, that was me. @Steaming Badger, the guy who said "holy shit why did it take so long for me to notice that you're dressed as KK!?", that was me too.

@warrenellis - You should've heard the murmurs in the signing line as you took a break. "He's probably going for a smoke. Wait, he's taking his bag! OH SHIT HE'S LEAVING!". Thanks so much for turning up. The fact that you recognised me from here was just.... Fucking hell, it was a weird feeling. And cheers for putting up with me returning for a photo, and for getting me out of Scotland for a day.

i very much enjoyed the panel as well. i asked the random question about guest strips (if anyone cares!)

the thing that struck me most from both years was the sheer amount of random crap to buy. i wish there were more writers/artists or stuff more relevant that just merch. but i guess that is how these things function a lot of the time. that being said, both years i've found stuff by people that I had never heard of before but enjoyed. (Swanzeus is SO very wrong in the head but hilarious).

it is always lovely to see how absolutely nice people are, patient and gracious when you ask them ridiculous questions or to do a sketch. @Paul Duffield, as before, you are a very lovely person! I hope you had fun being a fan :D

@warrenellis - You should've heard the murmurs in the signing line as you took a break. "He's probably going for a smoke. Wait, he's taking his bag! OH SHIT HE'S LEAVING!".

I'd literally done cab-train-cab-convention-table, bang bang bang, skipping the whole "go to the hotel, check in and put your bag down" thing. I had to break after the first hour because I hadn't had a chance to eat yet.

They put the time down as 2pm because the travel sitch was so fucked. Luckily I got an excellent cabman in Romford, and was able to start signing before 1pm.

Someone could have told me that my shirt in that photo was so rucked up that I looked like a fucking walrus.

What was weird was, I bought the Liquid City promo (which came in a little plastic pocket), and left it in my bags thinking I'd read it on the plane. I went through security, got on the flight, took it out to read, and within it was a smaller bag with two little mint green pills in it. I'm guessing it's a gimmick to do with the book, but fuck! If i'd been stopped at security, I would've been utterly buggered.

@warrenellis - Someone could have told me that my shirt in that photo was so rucked up that I looked like a fucking walrus.

Nobody knew whether or not you had your Tactical Defense Pen with you. With that mixed feeling of awe and terror in the air, we're not exactly going to approach you saying "you're shirt's fucked, mate.". It wasn't noticable, anyway.

I might actually risk letting curiosity get the better of me and take one, now. I thought to myself "Maybe the author just took a dislike to me....", but if it's happened to someone else I can assume the pills are safe.

ha ha. Jon Scrivens just mentioned on Twitter that there is another one in October. I will be a freshly minted 28 year old so I figure that's a good a reason as any to traipse about the expo and spend another £80.

I hope you all realise that the reason i'm so childishly starstruck by actually conversing with Marc Ellerby, Jaimie McKelvie, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield on top of being photographed by Anna Petterson is that, well, it was my first time doing anything of the sort.